Acknowledging that "the national security landscape has
shifted" since 2007 – the last time Congress rewrote the
laws governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS) – as has "the nature of the investments
that pose the greatest potential risk to national security,"
the Senate approved legislation on June 18, 2018 that would expand
the scope of CFIUS reviews, invite reviews on new threats,
streamline the process, and adopt a risk-based approach to reviews
– an approach focused on investments from "countries of
special concern."
The bill – S. 2098, the Foreign Investment Risk Review
Modernization Act of 2018, was embedded in the National Defense
Authorization Act for 2019. It must still be approved by a
House-Senate conference and signed by the President before it can
become law, but its chances of enactment are good. CFIUS is the
multi-agency government panel that reviews foreign acquisitions to
assess their impact on national security.
